“If Naver had not pursued countless M&A (mergers and acquisitions) over the years, it would either be a very small company by now or have already collapsed and disappeared. Ensuring the survival of the business is more important than protecting equity.”
Lee Hae-jin, Naver’s chairman, appeared before the public after nine years. Lee stated, “This is my first time standing before reporters since Line’s listing in 2016 and the press briefing held at Naver’s data center ‘Gak'” and added, “That is how urgent and critical this merger is.”
Naver and Dunamu held a press briefing at Naver’s 1784 building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the 27th to announce the background of their integration and future business strategies. On the 26th, the three companies — Naver, Naver Financial, and Dunamu — each held board meetings to resolve a comprehensive stock exchange under which Naver Financial would acquire 100% of Dunamu’s shares. This restructures the ownership hierarchy to ‘Naver (parent company), Naver Financial (subsidiary), Dunamu (grandchild company).’
The three companies plan to invest 10 trillion Korean won over five years to build a global financial infrastructure combining artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, aiming to preempt the global market with K-fintech.
◇AI and Blockchain Integration
The key keywords for the merger are ‘AI’ and ‘Web3.’ Web3 refers to an ecosystem where users directly own and distribute data, unlike platforms such as YouTube or Instagram that manage information. Blockchain is the core technology enabling this. By merging, the three companies aim to combine their competitive strengths and become a leader in implementing both AI and Web3.
Naver possesses search, content, data, AI model development capabilities, and cloud infrastructure. Naver Financial has a payment network worth 80 trillion Korean won annually, while Dunamu, a global top-four digital asset exchange, boasts abundant liquidity and blockchain technology. Choi Soo-yeon, Naver’s CEO, stated, “By integrating the three companies’ capabilities, we will build a ‘full lineup’ of users, data, technology, services, and capital to boldly enter the global Web3 market.” The three companies plan to invest 10 trillion Korean won over five years to nurture talent and support startups in AI and Web3 ecosystems.
◇Global Competition with ‘K-Fintech’
The words ‘timing’ and ‘urgency’ frequently appeared during the press conference. Choi remarked, “The trend of blockchain popularization and the evolution of AI into agentic AI have converged. Now is the right time to pursue new innovations globally.”
In the U.S., PayPal, Coinbase, and Circle are expanding their Web3-based financial ecosystems and strengthening market dominance. Song Chi-hyung, Dunamu’s chairman, said, “Coinbase’s market capitalization is approximately 100 trillion Korean won, and Circle’s is around 25 trillion Korean won.” He added, “If Korean companies combine their strengths at this moment, they can secure global competitiveness, but if they miss this timing, it will be difficult to catch up with the first-mover advantages of global firms.” Song further stated, “Just as YouTube changed the broadcasting industry’s order, blockchain technology will transform the global financial landscape. We will leverage blockchain’s borderless nature to present a new financial paradigm on the global stage.”
◇Initiated by Lee Hae-jin’s Proposal
The merger began with Lee Hae-jin’s proposal. Lee said, “I judged that talented individuals with strong technical depth and research commitment would create significant synergy if we worked together.” Song stated, “I was convinced that combining forces would generate greater synergy globally than working alone.” Regarding future leadership issues at Naver, Lee remarked, “It is not the time to discuss this yet.” On whether Naver Financial, post-merger, would list on Nasdaq, Choi said, “Nothing has been decided yet,” and added, “We will ensure that shareholder value is not undermined.”
